


A Cool Autumn Day

by Grimalkinii



Category: Touhou Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27817357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grimalkinii/pseuds/Grimalkinii
Summary: Three inhabitants of Gensokyo chat while they work.
Kudos: 2





	A Cool Autumn Day

Gensokyo. It is a day midway through Kannazuki, the Month with No Gods, a day with a breeze that carries a chill, but warm enough that many humans and youkai still find it comfortable outside, perhaps with an extra layer of clothes. The leaves have already changed, courtesy of the Minoriko sisters. There is a small hut with a large chimney on the very outskirts of the Human Village, just outside the walls, and scattered around it are logs and various metal implements; perhaps the most notable scrap outside the building is a large pile of beautifully-crafted swords. There is a scrap of paper pinned to a log next to the pile of weapons, which was at least a foot high and thrice as wide on all sides. It reads:  
  
 _Trash._ _  
_ _Take One!_

Most unbefitting of blades created with such care.

***

The inside of the dwelling was small, but cozy; there was plenty of comfortable, soft-looking furniture, and although it was cool outside the temperature inside was much warmer. Almost unbearably so, even, due to the station the home’s owner had set up for metalwork and blacksmithing. Dozens of tools for these occupations lined the walls; there was a single large window which let in a good amount of light. There was at least one half-melted candle on just about every table, and the small cooking area in the very middle of the single-room building was surprisingly complete in its array of utensils, pots, and pans.  
  
“You see how the hammer creates sparks when it hits the steel on the anvil?” asked one of the women inside the shack. “It is the same with one’s soul.” She was small in stature and lithe, with long black hair pinned up into a ponytail; the red hairtips at the end of the ponytail defied gravity and reached for the sky, like a flame might. Her dull red eyes stayed focused on the task at hand, hammering out the shape of yet another sword with practiced technique; it was, perhaps, either a testament to her skill, bravery, stupidity, or all three that she wore only fashionable gloves and a sleeveless white dress while performing this work. Of course, if asked, she would have simply said that the room was unbearably warm while wearing protective clothes.

“Oh, I get it,” said another girl. She too was short, but built more thickly than the other two women in the room. She was the opposite of the blacksmith girl in many ways: her short, loose hair was snowy white and her eyes a vibrant blue, and she was bundled up in a thick fur cloak with the hood up. There were what appeared to be half-moon shaped antlers sticking out of the shoulders and head of the cloak; her bare feet were right up next to the furnace at the heart of the blacksmith’s establishment, close enough that she’d already been warned that she would get burned, but it never seemed to stick in her mind until she’d done it. “You’re saying souls are hot! I never knew that.” She scratched her chin, edging closer to the furnace. “Is it just me, or is it chilly in here?”

“It’s not chilly in here, it’s _hot_ ,” the third person in the room replied. She was taller than the other two, with shoulder-length messy teal hair and heterochromatic eyes; one red and one blue. Her clothes were mostly blue in color, although in one of her hands there was a purple umbrella with a strange graphic; a single eye with a large mouth under it, and a tongue sticking out of that. “I don’t know how you can be cold with a blacksmith’s furnace going.” She was a little annoyed at her friend for ruining her prank which involved the pile of swords and some red bean paste.   
  
“I wasn’t saying souls are hot, Tahki,” the blacksmith replied to the girl by the furnace. “I was saying that they are forged by the blows dealt to them, and become powerful tools in the process.”

“Ah, I get it. Hey, Magoroku?” replied Tahki.

“What is it?”

“Do you think you could use your hammer to tenderize meat? I mean, it _is_ a hammer, and --”   
  
“That’s inappropriate, Tahki! A blacksmith’s hammer is… it’s their lifeline! A blacksmith is nothing without their hammer!” The girl with the umbrella interjected, cutting off Tahki before she could finish her thought - if there even was one. She was leaning over the blacksmith, watching her technique intently.

“There’s no need to be upset, Kogasa. After all, it’s a good thing she’s even curious about a blacksmith’s tools in the first place without trying to swallow them. Last time I instructed you while she was here, she simply ate all my bread. Not that I mind, but when she started chewing on your arm because she was still hungry that made your practice much more difficult.”

“I guess it’s a good thing she’s sitting peacefully and watching,” Kogasa agreed.

“I can hear you two, you know. I bit the hammer one time --”  
  


“Two times,” Magoroku corrected.

“ _Two_ times, and now you think I want to eat the whole house, walls included!”   
  
“Don’t you?” Kogasa asked. There was a sly smile on her face.   
  


“Of course not! Where else would I hang out?” A black, fluffy tail popped out from beneath the girl’s fuzzy cloak and beat against the ground, indicative of her annoyance.

“Anywhere you could find something edible,” Kogasa joked.

“Yeah, but just because there’s edible stuff doesn’t mean there’s a furnace there, too.” Tahki grinned and edged even closer to the heat source; Magoroku dropped a red-hot sword into a trough of water, and begun to focus on demonstrating new blacksmithing techniques to Kogasa.

After an hour or so of demonstration, Kogasa practiced hands-on as Tahki took a nap, and after that, the sun was beginning to set. It was just about time for the lessons to come to a close; Kogasa thanked Magoroku for her time and patience, and they discussed scheduling for the next lesson. Tahki arose from her slumber to see this discussion and stepped outside; before long Kogasa had headed home.  
  
“I suppose you’ll be going home now too, Tahki?”   
  


“Huh? Why would I do that?”

  
“Um… because you have your own home? You didn’t do anything to it, did you?”   
  


“Of course not! But my little campfire isn’t anywhere as good as your blacksmithing furnace is going to be tonight.”

“I -- surely you don’t expect it to stay lit all night, do you?”

“Duh. How else do you stay warm?”

“I light a much smaller fire, heat some coals, and leave them in the middle of the room. Like anyone else, Tahki.”  
  


“Do you? Huh.” She paused for a few moments. “Are you sure?”  
  


“I am sure.”

“I don’t know… I think I’ll stay here tonight anyway,” Tahki half-asserted, kicking a small bit of dirt while looking towards the ground bashfully.

Magoroku smiled. “I see. I suppose there’s no harm in it. Maybe you can tell me the story about the time you met one of the vampires? I’ll lay out the dinner table, and you can help me cook the vegetables…”

***

Mentorship decorated with lively conversation, and everyday conversation indicative of friendship that endures through the seasons. A slice of life and a small vignette of a normal autumn day in Gensokyo. 


End file.
